


Slightly Stale Pastries Make The World Go Round

by everybodygotawaterbuffalo



Series: Slightly Stale Pastries [2]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Famous, Don't copy to another site, Multi, based off the Joy MV, chenle's a musician, hyuck's a baker, if this looks familiar, jaemin's a tattoo artist, jeno's a florist, jisung's at an animal shelter, mark's a photographer, renjun's an artist, there's a bullet fic i wrote with the same name
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-14
Updated: 2019-04-11
Packaged: 2019-11-18 07:26:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18116090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/everybodygotawaterbuffalo/pseuds/everybodygotawaterbuffalo
Summary: Mark is a photographerHaechan works at a bakeryJeno's at the flower shopRenjun draws flowers (and sometimes pretty boys)Chenle just wants to sing and pet animalsJaemin just recovered from a back injury and works at a tattoo parlorJisung dances when he's not taking care of animalsAnd here's how they all ended up spending lunches together





	1. Literally Just Introducing the Characters

**Author's Note:**

> Hi and welcome to It's Technically Still Thursday Here So I'm Not Late! I hope you all enjoy this story!

August

Lee Donghyuck rolls out of bed bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, and ready to face the day. By that, I mean he flops his hand in the general direction of his alarm clock til it turns off then drags himself vaguely upright, groaning the whole time. Slowly but steadily, he gets ready for work and heads out, opting to walk rather than bike or bug anyone for a ride. 

As usual, nothing particularly interesting happens for the first couple hours. Don’t get him wrong -- he enjoys the bakery! It just gets kinda repetitive after a while, especially with just him and Doyoung, the owner, there in the mornings. There are a couple other kids who work evening shifts occasionally, but Hyuck doesn’t particularly like any of them. It’s not like they fight or anything, he just doesn’t have anything in common with them. 

Today around 10:00, a little something arrives to shake things up: the cute college photography major who stops in to take pictures of the food and sometimes the customers (and perhaps one of the workers). This significantly brightens Hyuck’s day, enough that he really can’t bring himself to care about the looks Doyoung throws him from the back room. 

Cute photography guy is named Mark Lee and as much as Hyuck gives him shit for literally everything he can, they’re good friends. Mark’s starting his freshman year in college later this month, so he’s been ridiculously helpful with Hyuck’s questions about applications and just the whole process. As soon as Mark comes in, Hyuck calls out to Doyoung that he’s taking his break. After a minor detour to the bread drawer to grab a couple leftover pastries from the night before, he meets Mark at their usual table: the wooden one in the corner that for some reason has seven completely different chairs around it. No one else ever sits there, so they do. 

Mark always used to buy a pastry whenever he came in to take pictures, but Hyuck started to feel bad about that since Mark’s in college and there’s the stereotype about broke college students he’s never bothered to refute and honestly, photography can’t earn  _ that _ much, right? Soon enough, Hyuck was saving a couple pastries every night and leaving them in the bread drawer. Even if Mark didn’t happen to show up the next day, it just meant he had a free breakfast  _ and _ lunch. Usually though, if Mark wasn’t going to show up, he’d at least text Hyuck to let him know. 

“Morning, Hyuck,” Mark greets as he sits across from him, passing a pastry across the table. 

“Morning. What are you planning on taking pictures of today?” Their conversation flows easily between topics, covering everything from Mark’s plan of attack to a dumb video Hyuck found on instagram the other day. Mark tells Hyuck fun stories about his bosses, Johnny and Ten, who run a photography business together and the chaos that is helping to plan their wedding. Mark has been questioning his offer to help since about five minutes after he made it. This continues until Doyoung tells Hyuck his break’s over. Mark hangs around for another couple hours, taking pictures of whatever strikes his fancy. 

 

Two stores over, Lee Jeno is just finishing his break at the florist’s. Sure, he knows Mark and Hyuck, but isn’t close with either of them. Mark went to the local high school after moving from Canada in the middle of his sophomore year and Jeno’s brother Taeyong is good friends with Johnny and Ten, but Jeno tends to hang around the dance kids, especially Jisung (though Ten helps run their club at the local studio so he does see him there), and the band kids more than anything. 

Today, unfortunately, Jeno forgot to bring a lunch. He accidentally fell back asleep after his alarm went off and woke up fifteen minutes late to a “good morning” text from Jaemin. In his rush to get to work, his lunch was left unmade. Thankfully, he remembered his wallet. He also remembers Jisung mentioning the bakery on the same street and that it’s quite good. After flipping the front sign to “Out -- Be Back Soon!” and locking the door behind him he heads over to the bakery, his face settling into a smile bright enough to rival the sunshine. A pastry does sound quite wonderful at the moment. 

The moment Jeno enters the bakery, everyone in his general vicinity feels their day brighten a little. It might be his fault; we’ll never know. He orders his food and settles at a table in the sun; it’s got seven chairs around it, each different. He thinks it’s cute. The lunch rush is just dying down, so Hyuck comes out to talk with him as soon as he gets bored. They chat for a while, just catching up and getting to know each other better until they both have to get back to work. After exchanging numbers, the first thing Hyuck sends Jeno is a meme, so he knows they’ll get along well. Mostly they text memes and their plights of pining over boys who are too pretty for their own good. 

Jeno starts coming over for lunch most days he works, draping everything in the smell of sunshine and flowers. Hyuck feels bad about him always buying stuff too, even though Jeno never complains. Soon enough, he’s saving a bonus pastry most nights and Mark shifts his schedule to join them at lunch, just after the noon rush dies down. Thankfully, Doyoung doesn’t mind so long as they keep Hyuck occupied and don’t stop him from getting back to work. Doyoung usually takes his breaks right after to visit his boyfriend Kun at the nearby coffee shop, so the boys can stay but Hyuck has to get back to work. 

Over the next couple weeks, Hyuck and Jeno start to become much better friends, mostly because their other friends have either graduated or gone on vacation way too far away. In return for his pastry generosity, as well as his constant third-wheeling of Hyuck and Mark, Jeno brings Hyuck (and Doyoung) flowers every once in a while. Doyoung thinks Jeno’s just the sweetest kid ever (and he’s right). 

 

In a nearby neighborhood, two high-school-aged boys are moving into a new house. The boys are god-siblings, as Zhong Chenle’s parents are Huang Renjun’s godparents. Renjun’s never been entirely sure what his parents do for a living, but it involves extended “business trips” every couple of years. This time, they’re in Germany and that means Renjun got to help Chenle’s family move halfway across the country. In all honesty, Renjun doesn’t care where he ends up as long as there’s wifi and an art club. Thankfully, he has both here. 

One of the first things Renjun does the day after they’ve finished unpacking is to put together a portfolio and head to the address from the art club’s website. Even though he sells a lot of his physical and digital art, he always scans it to put on tumblr so he’s got records of pretty much everything he’s ever made. He learns very quickly that the art club is student-run and their president is out of commission for a while due to an injury, but that he’s welcome to join in the meantime. 

It’s summer, so Renjun has nothing to do. He takes to wandering around town, popping into random shops and awkwardly buying things he doesn’t need because he’s too uncomfortable to just walk out without buying anything. While on one of his walks, Renjun sees a flower shop and is immediately enamored. Other than portraits (and Moomin), flowers are his favorite thing to draw. 

Since he’s got his sketchbook with him, he decides to stop in and see if the employee(s) will let him hang around and draw for a while. He heads inside and  _ holy shit the employee’s cute wait what do I do I just wanted to draw flowers I didn’t sign up for gay panic! _ To be fair, Jeno is also panicking, but he’s a bit better at hiding it after having a crush on the world’s biggest flirt, Na Jaemin, for like ten years. 

“I … I was wondering um if I-I could sit in here and … uh … draw?” Renjun hates how his voice shakes but in his defence, the employee really is pretty. 

“Oh, absolutely!” If it wasn’t enough that his face is flawless, his voice has to be too? This isn’t fair. The boy grins at him, eyes curving into gentle crescents, and Renjun feels his heart skip a beat. “Just let me know if you need anything! I’m Jeno, by the way!” 

“Renjun.” He silently congratulates himself on how steady his voice is, even if he only managed one word. 

“That’s such a pretty name! Ok, I’ll leave you alone now; sorry for rambling!” Oh my god he’s so cute. 

Meanwhile, Jeno’s two remaining brain cells are panicking:  _ he’s so pretty what the heck is this even allowed oh his accent is so cute too wait would it seem rude if I asked where he’s from oh yeah probably ok I won’t I’ll just stand here and water flowers and sneak glances over at him _ . While Jeno is the absolute opposite of subtle, Renjun is absolutely oblivious. 

Renjun starts to make a habit of stopping in the flower shop whenever he’s bored. If part of the reason he likes it so much is getting to draw a sunny smile topped with crescent eyes, well, that’s nobody’s business but his. 

It takes a while for Renjun to meet Jeno’s boss, Sicheng, who owns the store. He talks to himself and the flowers and makes jokes in Mandarin, which Jeno is slowly starting to pick up. Not long after that, Renjun starts getting dragged to lunch at the bakery with Jeno. Of course, he doesn’t mind. It’s not like there are any other friends he’s being taken away from. Chenle can handle himself. 

Doyoung’s only response is to shake his head and pull out another tupperware container for Hyuck. 

 

Renjun was right: Chenle can handle himself. For the first couple of weeks, Chenle works his way through unpacking and decorating every room in their -- admittedly rather large -- house. He joins Renjun on his walks occasionally, but for one thing Renjun’s an introvert and for another he prefers to be alone when he draws (and tries to flirt with Jeno) so that’s becoming less and less frequent. Besides, Chenle isn’t much for wandering aimlessly around. He’d rather have specific things to do. Unsurprisingly, after getting bored of being stuck alone around the house all day, Chenle decides to get a job. 

Now, you might ask where Chenle decides to get a job. That’s a perfectly reasonable question. He gets a job at the record store between the florist and the baker, of course! He stops in, introduces himself, and asks if they want any help. The owner and manager, Jaehyun, immediately agrees to an interview. To be perfectly frank, most of the reason he got the job is because he and Jaehyun bond over their shared music taste. That’s not to say he isn’t professional; in fact, Chenle’s been appearing at formal events with his parents and performing in concerts since he could walk, so he’s got plenty of experience with professionalism. Jaehyun just doesn’t care much about that. He values customer service, a welcoming atmosphere, and quality products over being formal. 

One of Chenle’s favorite things to do while he works is sing, hence why he initially looked into the job at the record store. As much as Renjun complains about his squeaky dolphin laugh, that boy can sound damn near angelic when he wants to. It’s actually quite a good marketing strategy, Jaehyun’s found. Chenle’s classically trained and can sing just about anything you throw at him, often while bouncing and dancing around the store. He does his job well, cleaning and re-stocking and interacting with customers, but what’s truly amazing to Jaehyun is the sheer amount of  _ energy _ Chenle seems to have. 

On the days when Chenle can convince Jaehyun to sing with him, it’s basically a siren call. The two of them singing brings  _ all  _ the boys to the yard. Well, all the boys Jaehyun cares about, which is only one: Taeyong. Even Chenle can see they’re dating (or at least pining), even if both deny it, and if a boy as oblivious as Zhong Chenle can see it, that’s a problem. 

For the first couple days he’s there, Chenle spends his breaks alone in the back room. He doesn’t mind, since it allows him to check social media and usually text Renjun, but Jaehyun won’t stand for this and lets Chenle know he takes his breaks at the animal shelter across the street. If Chenle notices this is where the infamous Taeyong works, he doesn’t mention it. The next day, Chenle decides to check it out and discovers that a cute high schooler works there too! He’s not confident enough to visit on days he isn’t working, but on those days he joins Renjun and co. at the bakery for lunch. 

Doyoung tosses Hyuck a tupperware container from across the store. Miraculously, Hyuck catches it, but he immediately proceeds to drop it on Mark’s head. 

 

Three houses away from Hyuck’s residence, Na Jaemin has just been cleared by the doctor to resume normal activities after almost three months of what he affectionately refers to as “house arrest.” Other than occasional art club meetings, he hasn’t left the house since Hyuck dared him to do a backflip off his roof and he messed up his back. He’s been out of bed for extended periods for less than a month. Now, finally, he gets to return to work and bothering Hyuck and just generally getting up to teenage shenanigans. 

Jaemin’s worked at the tattoo parlor across from the florist for a couple years now. When he got it, everyone at school thought he was really cool and edgy and kind of a badass, but anyone who’s talked to him for more than approximately seven seconds knows he’s an absolute softie. Jaemin is one of the gentlest people on the face of the Earth, and has honestly no idea why anyone would think he’s a badass. His cousin Taeil’s the manager at the parlor, hence why he got the job, and even though he can’t do any actual tattooing yet, he can organize, do customer service, and suggest designs. Yuta even lets him help with piercings sometimes and those days are the  _ best _ . He loves how excited people look when they get to see their new piercing for the first time. Mostly, though, when he’s not manning the front desk, he’s curled up with a sketchbook and pencils, drafting designs. 

Jaemin’s always taken his breaks at the florist, hanging with Jeno and bugging Sicheng. Knowing Renjun from art club now, he has another partner in crime. To Sicheng’s relief, Jeno and Renjun start dragging Jaemin with them to lunch at the bakery most days, allowing him blissful peace and quiet for about an hour. He loves the kids, he really does, but all three of them at once is a bit much sometimes. 

Although Jeno and Renjun know Jaemin, neither of them made any sort of connection between him and Hyuck, hence their surprise the first time they bring him to lunch. They’re the last to arrive, which isn’t uncommon, and they make their presence known as soon as they enter. 

“We come bearing gifts,” Renjun announces with relish, gesturing to Jaemin. They’re clearly expecting to have to introduce him, and are abruptly thrown off guard with the immediate response from Hyuck. 

“Nana!” Hyuck gasps, jumping up from the table to tackle him in a surprisingly gentle hug. “Why didn’t you tell me you escaped house arrest?” 

“I didn’t escape anything,” Jaemin laughs warmly, “And you can hug me as hard as you want.” Hyuck’s eyes light up. 

“You’re all better?” At Jaemin’s nod, he wraps him in a much tighter hug, practically carries him over to the table, and plops him down in a chair. A few moments later, they seem to notice that everyone else is staring at them silently, unasked questions dangling on their lips. 

Hyuck drapes himself over Jaemin’s lap and they explain that they’re neighbors who’ve known each other pretty much forever. Mark, Jeno, and Renjun might perhaps be a little jealous and Chenle might perhaps be laughing at them, but it’s alright because they’re all having a good time. It immediately becomes obvious that Jaemin will be sticking around. He slides right into the group like it’s where he was always meant to be. 

From across the store, Doyoung throws a tupperware container in the general direction of Hyuck’s head. It misses and hits Mark right in the face. Everyone laughs. 

 

Over at the pet shelter, Taeyong is trying to convince Jisung, his summer helper, to be more social. Jisung insists that between dance and Chenle visiting a couple times a week, that’s plenty of socialization. Taeyong disagrees. This is their first summer working together, but he thinks they’ve adjusted very well, if he does say so himself. The last few summers, Taeyong had Lucas and Jungwoo working with him, for both of whom the label “social butterfly” is an understatement, but now that they graduated and left him, he’s having to adjust to the existence of introverts. It’s not that Jisung’s a bad employee -- quite the opposite, actually. He loves playing with the animals and caring for them, and he’s great at it too. Jisung also appreciates that Taeyong doesn’t mind if he dances in the back room as long as there aren’t any people and he keeps the music pretty quiet. Taeyong also likes that Jisung will be around for a couple more years, so he doesn’t have to worry about finding anyone else soon. 

Jisung has only been working there a couple weeks -- just long enough to figure out Jaehyun, the owner of the record store across the street, and Taeyong are mutually pining and possibly dating -- when Chenle starts visiting. He first comes with Jaehyun, tucked shyly behind him and peering out curiously. Jisung takes him to play with the bunnies first, since they’re really social and he needed to feed them anyway, and it becomes a routine. Sometimes, Chenle will bring his probably-brother (Jisung never bothered asking but they act like brothers) Renjun who likes to draw the animals while he and Chenle play with them. Jisung doesn’t mind that Chenle’s Korean is a little bit accented and that he forgets words sometimes, and Chenle doesn’t mind that Jisung sometimes talks a little too fast for him to understand, because he gestures a lot when he talks and that helps.

Chenle has been trying desperately to convince Jisung to join him at lunch with his hyungs, for a couple of reasons. First, he thinks they’d all really like Jisung and second, he kind of doesn’t want to be the youngest and third, he sometimes feels like he’s sixth-wheeling. After trying pretty much everything else he can think of, Chenle accidentally mentions that Jeno will be there. Jisung warms up to the idea immediately. They know each other from dance club, and Jisung’s the one who suggested the bakery to him in the first place. After about a week of negotiating, Jisung agrees to go if Chenle buys his lunch. Chenle, of course, agrees wholeheartedly. At the bakery that day, when Chenle and Jeno introduce Jisung to the others, he’s immediately adopted. Jaemin spends approximately eight minutes cooing over how cute his “Jisungie” is although he pretends to hate it, Chenle can tell that Renjun and Jeno are more bothered by this turn of events than Jisung is. 

Doyoung pulls out his last tupperware container and mumbles quiet empty threats of bread drawer privileges being revoked if Hyuck keeps “adopting strays.” Hyuck just smiles. He’s got a feeling their little group is complete. 

 

Although Hyuck keeps track of all of their schedules and saves pastries accordingly, the group still buys something roughly weekly. Doyoung always insists he really doesn’t mind as long as they keep Hyuck distracted for his break and let him back to work after, but they all feel bad just sitting there all the time, taking up space and not buying anything. As a compromise, they get a round of pastries to take home or a cake or something they can split, and take turns paying so everyone’s happy. Somehow, they all know this friendship they’ve started will last well past the end of summer break. 


	2. The Plot Has Been Awoken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mark thinks Hyuck is cute  
> Hyuck is really really gay  
> Jeno just wants to help  
> Renjun is exasperated but really weak  
> Jaemin thinks he’s Cupid (he might be right)  
> Chenle is laughing in the corner  
> Jisung just doesn’t want to get involved
> 
> And here’s how the first two end up dating

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi I was out of the country for a week so that's why this and the next chapter are not on schedule. Thank you all for reading!! Weekly updates will continue starting Thursday.   
> Also, just a quick thing about something later in this chapter: one of my friends sat in one of the freezers at the back of the Target I work at for over an hour in a t-shirt and jeans to avoid his boss so I think the two of them would be fine for half an hour. You’ll know what that means when you get to it.

September

There are several pre-established facts of the universe, including (but not limited to) dogs and cats are both great, the Earth is round, English is a trash language that doesn’t deserve to exist, and Mark and Hyuck are pining for each other. Of course, neither thinks the other likes them because low self-esteem is a magical thing. Now that that’s established, the plot can move forward. 

Unfortunately for them but fortunately for entertainment purposes, both Mark and Hyuck have a system of “pretend to hate them but only a little bit” as their default defense mechanism for gay panic. The only upside to this is it’s “only a little bit” so it’s more light-hearted teasing than actual venom. Of course, they’re also both oblivious to the exponentially increasing levels of frustration around them as they continue to ignore their feelings. 

Also, Hyuck is really clingy. He hugs and holds hands and plays with hair and just generally likes to be physically connected to people. Right now, his victim of choice seems to be Jaemin, as he’s making up for the months of being unable to see him. Jaemin, of course, is used to this and knows better than to resist. He just lets Hyuck do whatever he wants and returns to tucking himself between Renjun and Jeno when he’s done. Mark, the lovable idiot that he is, apparently decides that this means that Hyuck probably has a crush on Jaemin and is therefore off limits. 

Honestly, he couldn’t be more wrong. Even though Jaemin and Hyuck have known each other since approximately age 2, when Jaemin moved onto the same street and they started having playdates, and even though neither of them are straight, they’ve never considered a relationship. It’s cliché, but they’ve always considered themselves closer to brothers than boyfriends. Although, fun fact, they were actually each other’s first kiss. It’s the fault of 4am truth or dare but that’s a story for another time. People have thought they’re dating since the concept of dating was introduced, or about fourth grade. No matter how much they deny it, there’s always someone who asks on the first day of school, and the first day back from winter break, and the first day back from spring break, and … you get the point. 

That being said, he is still very clingy with Mark. When given the opportunity, he finds himself holding his hand or draping himself over his lap, and they hug whenever possible. Mark takes pictures of Hyuck when he isn’t looking and Hyuck texts Mark at ungodly hours just because he can. Everyone around them can see they’re absolutely whipped for each other and Jisung and Chenle in particular find it incredibly entertaining. 

Basically, they’re both trying to flirt with each other and failing miserably. They’re both trying to be really subtle about it because neither of them actually knows whether the other is straight or not. This is a dumb problem, because if Mark ever took the time to think more than three seconds about it, he’d know he could just ask Jaemin. 

Speaking of, Jaemin is just a fountain of wealth when it comes to Hyuck’s mannerisms and as such, recognizes  _ immediately _ that he has a crush on Mark. Well, he knew about halfway through the first lunch he spent with the group that Hyuck at least finds Mark attractive, and by the end of the second lunch he knew it was a full-on crush. 

Thankfully for Hyuck, Jaemin knows well enough to keep his big mouth shut, so he doesn’t get teased about it much for the first while, but the other boys aren’t idiots so they figure it out pretty quick. Some of them, especially Chenle, are a bit more vocal about their teasing, but neither Hyuck nor Mark take it seriously. 

Unfortunately for Hyuck, Jaemin is not a particularly patient person, and after about a week he realizes Hyuck isn’t going to do anything about his crush. Jaemin just wants his best friend to be gay, in both definitions of the word. He starts small, just mentioning little things about Mark and how cute they both are, et cetera and so forth. He also does most of this privately because he knows Hyuck would be really uncomfortable with the whole group joking about this, even if Mark is completely oblivious. Hyuck, however, is deep in Denial Mode so he doesn’t catch on to anything Jaemin is hinting at. 

Even a few days later, once Jaemin finally breaks through Denial Mode and gets Hyuck to recognize his own feelings (with the help of a few romantic movies and a pint of ice cream, as well as a few pointed questions), he knows he has to get proof that Mark likes Hyuck back before Hyuck can work up the guts to do anything. Of course, as Jaemin has a pair of functioning eyes, he knows that Mark obviously has a crush on Hyuck. Anyone who’s looked at his camera roll would confirm that. 

This has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that at lunch two days after Jaemin’s discussion with Hyuck, Mark’s camera goes missing for about 10 minutes and Jaemin smiles like the cat that got the canary for the rest of the day. Other than the pictures though, Mark’s actually relatively subtle about his feelings so Hyuck just thinks he’s still hanging around for the platonic companionship and the free food. Mark has gotten very good at silent gay panic. That’s all I’m going to say about that. 

Jaemin decides to stage an intervention. It’s a minor intervention, but an intervention nonetheless. This particular one consists of him “sneaking” into Hyuck’s room one Saturday morning. Granted, Jaemin’s definition of “sneaking” is knocking on the door and saying hi to Hyuck’s mom before barging into Hyuck’s room. 

“I’m not leaving until you get your shit figured out,” he announces. Hyuck, half asleep and not expecting anyone in his room, flails dramatically and falls off the bed. Jaemin continues as though he hadn’t been interrupted. 

“You deserve a boyfriend -- one that’s going to treat you right. I know exactly who that is and also that he likes you too.” 

“Jaemin, it’s 7:30. What the fuck are you on about?” 

“You like Mark and Mark likes you! You should date! It’s the obvious solution!” 

Hyuck, of course, denies it. This lasts for all of 3.75 seconds before Jaemin starts pouting. You’d think with how much time they’ve spent together, Hyuck would’ve become immune to Jaemin’s pouting, but no. He’s pretty sure no one can hold strong against Jaemin pouting. It’s too powerful. 

Regardless of how much Jaemin pouts, however, he can’t convince Hyuck to say anything to Mark yet. Jaemin knows not to push on that anyway. Hyuck is also hesitant to believe literally half of Mark’s photos are of him, so Jaemin knows he’ll have to take slightly more extreme measures. 

For now, that means getting Hyuck a pint of ice cream and some Studio Ghibli movies and cuddling with him for a couple hours, then texting Jeno and Renjun to meet up the next day because he has a Plan™. Jeno knows Jaemin well enough to know this is going to be both fun and mildly terrifying, but Renjun has no idea what to expect. I wish him luck. 

Meanwhile, Jaemin spends the night with Hyuck giving him platonic love and affection along with a healthy dose of external validation because that’s what best friends are for. 

 

The next morning, after Jaemin’s made sure Hyuck is back to being a fully functional human being, he meets up with Jeno and Renjun at the local coffee shop where Kun, Doyoung’s boyfriend, works to discuss the situation. Neither Jeno or Renjun have been as invested as Jaemin in the situation. However, it’s been a sort of soap opera going on in the background for them so they’re very aware of it, even if they don’t know many of the specifics. 

Jeno is totally on board to help. Renjun, on the other hand, is a bit skeptical. He is of the opinion that Hyuck and Mark can and will figure it out on their own, but Jaemin is  _ impatient  _ and also persuasive. Renjun can’t say no to either Jeno or Jaemin pouting, let alone both, so he agrees to help. Jaemin, grinning gleefully, outlines his plans. 

Plan A is to get Mark to leave his camera out, preferably somewhere Hyuck will find it by himself, but Jaemin isn’t above mild situation manipulation. Hopefully, seeing Mark’s camera roll will confirm everything Jaemin’s told him and he’ll work up the courage to make a move. Jaemin doesn’t have 100% confidence in this one because there’s a lot out of his control, but this allows everything to happen as naturally as possible and would make Hyuck feel the most in control. 

Plan B is equally questionable, though for a different reason. This plan involves getting everyone together for a sleepover and playing truth or dare. Jeno and Renjun decide that regardless of plans, they should all get together for a sleepover anyway. When Jaemin brings it up, they’re both surprised no one else has thought of it yet. Unfortunately, late-night truth or dare between all seven of them has high potential to get out of hand, especially with Jaemin involved. Although the PDA aspect isn’t particularly desirable for fear of just making people uncomfortable, everyone agrees this should go before the next one. 

Plan C makes both Jeno and Renjun a little jealous just talking about it, but they both shove it aside for Jaemin’s sake. This one is probably the easiest to execute, as all it involves is consent from Hyuck and heavy flirting from Jaemin. Basically, Jaemin’s going to pretend to have a ridiculously obvious crush on Hyuck so Mark gets jealous and asks him out before he loses his chance. On the down side, Mark tends to be oblivious to most things more than 6 inches away from him at any given time, but Jaemin’s confident that if Hyuck’s impacted he’ll notice. 

If all of that fails, there’s still Plan D. This is Jaemin’s favorite, even if he doesn’t want it to get this far. Plan D is comprised of shoving Mark and Hyuck in the bakery walk-in fridge and leaving them there. This means they have to share body heat and hopefully by this point Hyuck will be fed up enough that he’ll just confess to get it over with. Jeno and Renjun made Jaemin promise that if even Plan D doesn’t work, they leave Mark and Hyuck alone to sort it out in their own time. He reluctantly agrees. 

Because Jaemin is impatient as all get-out, they decide to implement Plan A sometime in the next week, whenever the first opportunity arises. It takes three days. Jaemin thinks he’s going to go insane. Renjun is torn between feeling bad and laughing at him, and edging more towards laughing. Finally, Renjun manages to distract Mark with some questions about college, dragging him over to his computer, and he leaves his camera on the counter. Jeno pulls Hyuck away with a question about a cake for his mom’s birthday as Jaemin plants the camera at his workstation. It’s a good thing Jisung and Chenle aren’t at lunch that day because they’d have been rolling on the floor at how badly Jaemin, Renjun, and Jeno are failing at being subtle. To be fair, Mark and Hyuck appear to be equally oblivious. 

To Jaemin’s dismay, Hyuck chooses this time to be courteous. He’s picked it up, his finger hovering over the camera roll button, visibly waging some internal war. At that moment, Mark wraps up his conversation with Renjun and Hyuck quickly puts the camera down, quietly returning it to Mark when he comes looking. 

“That’s odd,” Jaemin murmurs to Jeno and Renjun, sitting safely at their table away from the duo. 

“What is? He’s just being polite,” says Jeno, draping his arm over Jaemin’s shoulders. 

“Have you met Hyuck? He’s never polite, and especially when it comes to any opportunity to make fun of Mark.” Jaemin’s dangerously close to pouting so Renjun cuts in.

“It’s alright! You’ve still got three plans left.” Jaemin perks up immediately. Jeno and Renjun share a look around him. An excited Jaemin is a dangerous Jaemin. 

Fortunately for everyone, the trio already scheduled a sleepover with everyone for the following weekend. This was Renjun’s idea. He wasn’t sure if Plan A would work and didn’t want Jaemin getting antsy between plans. Also, they already wanted a sleepover, so even if Plan A worked it would’ve just been a fun time all around. 

Because of Renjun’s forethought, they only have to wait a couple days before Plan B can be executed. Since Chenle’s parents are away for the weekend, he and Renjun have the house to themselves and they decide to host so no one has to deal with siblings or parents interrupting. 

Chenle’s parents were kind enough to leave them the fixings for making their own pizzas. Because they don’t really have a handle on how much food teenagers eat and tend to overestimate, there’s plenty of food for all seven of them to stay the whole weekend if they so choose. Leaving Renjun and Jaemin to manage the kitchen, Jisung and Jeno thoroughly destroy everyone else at Mario Kart for a while before dinner. After consuming an ungodly amount of pizza and soda, Jaemin suggests Truth or Dare. Everyone, for some reason, decides it’s a good idea. Hyuck is a bit suspicious because, well,  _ he knows Jaemin _ , but Renjun agreed to play so that’s good enough reason to join. 

It all starts calm, going around the circle a few times with dumb stuff. 

“When’s the last time you cheated on a test?” Renjun’s never cheated, and has been declared a nerd. 

“Stick your head out the front door and yodel.” Jeno’s pretty sure he freaked out the next door neighbor’s dog, but that’s it. Chenle says he evidently didn’t yodel loud enough. 

“Fit an entire slice of pizza in your mouth.” Hyuck manages it, surprisingly, and even eats the whole thing. Jisung says he’s not sure whether he should be impressed or disgusted. Jeno and Mark both agree on disgusted. 

Now that everyone’s comfortable and the suspicion levels have dropped significantly, the trio begins the Interesting Dares. It does not go as planned, but when does anything involving Hyuck go as planned? In this case, every time Jeno, Jaemin or Renjun imposes an awkward truth or dare on Mark and Hyuck, one of them does it back. Hyuck ends up on Mark’s lap so Renjun ends up on Jeno’s; Mark and Hyuck hold hands so Jaemin and Jeno do too; Mark kisses Hyuck’s cheek then Renjun has to kiss Jaemin’s. Basically, this amounts to the maximum capacity of gay panic for that room. Jisung and Chenle, meanwhile, definitely aren’t getting excluded. They just aren’t getting anything quite as …  _ risque _ . After all, this is Jaemin’s plan to get his bff a boyfriend, not Renjun’s to get his god-brother one. 

So while Jisung and Chenle are doing dumb things and divulging childhood secrets, they take advantage of the fact that the other five are paying them less attention. This basically just entails stealing extra desserts from the food pile. 

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and eventually Mark starts complaining about Hyuck being heavy. 

“Guys, I’m pretty sure I lost circulation to my legs about ten minutes ago,” he whines. Jaemin is visibly salty but obliges, officially calling the game. As they all get ready for bed, Jaemin realizes Hyuck and Mark have both been getting better at hiding their gay panic; neither of them were as shaken as he expected, especially with how gay quite a few of the dares got. He resolves to ask Hyuck about it soon, then puts it out of his mind and heads to bed. 

Even after a couple days, nothing much seems to have shifted in Mark and Hyuck’s dynamic, so Jaemin moves on to Plan C. This one takes the longest to carry out. It basically involves Jaemin being very touchy and clingy with Hyuck for about a week before Mark even seems to notice anything. Jaemin, of course, is excited about this because he’s always a fan of bonus physical affection. 

Jaemin pretty much takes this as an explicit challenge of “How Blatantly Can I Flirt With My Best Friend Until His Crush Steps In?” He starts visiting the bakery for hours on his days off, especially when he knows Mark will be there too. He practically hangs off of Hyuck all the time, draping himself over his lap and his shoulders and holding his hand all the time. He steals Hyuck’s jackets even though it’s only September. He even goes so far as to pout dramatically when Mark tries to take Hyuck away but even Mark can’t withstand Jaemin’s sad eyes so he relents pretty quickly. 

Everyone except for Jaemin seems to notice the effect this has on Jeno and Renjun. Of course, the one who’s usually so observant has no idea what’s happening when it’s directed at him. They’re both visibly tense whenever Jaemin’s draped all over Hyuck, and neither appears particularly fond of the situation. Luckily for all of them, Mark steps up so Jaemin can step back. He starts spending even more time at the bakery, often without even the pretense of photography, and drags Hyuck into his own embrace instead of Jaemin’s. 

Jaemin is very satisfied with his work, much to the amusement of Jisung and Chenle, who have stayed safely outside the debris radius of this mess. They’ve decided this is better than any k-drama or telenovela. Unfortunately, nothing seems to change in Mark and Hyuck’s relationship outside of perhaps a little extra affection. 

A few days after the end of Plan C, when the trio has gotten together to get some studying done for once, Jaemin texts Hyuck to ask how everything’s going. Hyuck responds simply that he’s working on it. 

“Well that’s really vague and unhelpful,” Jeno says, reading over his shoulder. 

“At least it’s positive,” supplies Renjun, though even he sounds a bit skeptical. Jaemin frowns, but decides once again to just bug Hyuck about it later, which will probably end up being the next time the two of them are alone. 

Of course, given Jaemin’s track record of patience -- or lack thereof -- it ought to be expected that he’ll get going on Plan D. It doesn’t help that he’s kind of always wanted a reason to shove Hyuck in the giant fridge. Hey, just because they’re best friends doesn’t mean they never get on each other’s nerves. 

Jeno and Renjun are a bit apprehensive, given that the fridge locks from the outside and Mark and Hyuck wouldn’t be able to get out unless they bang on the door and someone opens it from the outside. However, they decide as long as they open the freezer door after half an hour it’ll be alright. 

Somehow, with a fantastic combination of impromptu questions, Hyuck not trusting them alone near the bakery machines, and a whole lot of sheer dumb luck, Jeno and Jaemin manage to get Hyuck and Mark close to the fridge door. Before they know what’s happened, they’re inside it. Doyoung recently left to visit Kun, mumbling something about children giving him grey hairs before he hits 30 so he won’t be back for about an hour. That gives Mark and Hyuck plenty of time to figure their shit out while Jisung and Chenle handle the front end of the bakery. 

Meanwhile, inside the fridge, Mark and Hyuck are sitting next to each other, surprisingly calm. 

“Wow,” Hyuck comments. “I figured Jaemin might get a bit extreme but … I didn’t think he’d come to  _ this _ .” 

“Sometimes I worry about what goes on in his head.” 

“You have no idea.” Hyuck sounds equal parts exasperated and fond. “I very much question the texts I get from him between midnight and five in the morning. The things that kid thinks about … Jesus.” Mark looks at him.

“I get the feeling this is one of those ‘I probably just don’t want to know’ situations, yeah?” 

“Yeah.” They fall into a comfortable silence for a while. Luckily, they both wore long pants today so neither of them get cold too quickly. Mark eventually wraps an arm around Hyuck and they half-cuddle until Jeno and Renjun open the door back up. No one quite knows what to make of this, and Hyuck is pretty sure Jaemin didn’t think this plan through very well. 

That evening, Jaemin goes over to Hyuck’s house. He hopes to get Hyuck’s input on how everything’s going and what he can do to help since he’s run out of ideas. His plan is significantly derailed when he gets there, however. After letting himself in with his spare key -- something he only does when he knows Hyuck’s mom isn’t home -- he heads upstairs to find Hyuck. 

To be fair, he does find Hyuck. He just also finds Mark, cuddling with Hyuck. They’re kissing. Jaemin squeaks. Loudly. 

“Um … hi?” 

Over the course of the next few minutes, Jaemin learns that Mark and Hyuck have actually been dating since the day Jaemin, Jeno, and Renjun met up at the coffee shop to conspire. Jaemin, ever curious, asks for a more detailed explanation. 

“I went over to his house like you suggested--” He’s immediately interrupted.

“Wait, is Jaemin still responsible for all of this?” Luckily, Mark sounds more amused than annoyed.

“Maybe. Anyway, I asked if I could see his camera and he asked why so I said you said he took a lot of pictures of me and he got all soft and awkward and cute so I gave him a kiss on the cheek and told him he looked soft and awkward and cute then he showed me the pictures and kissed me for real.” 

“So, if you don’t mind me asking, why didn’t you tell any of us?” Hyuck looks nervous so Jaemin’s quick to reassure with, “I’m not annoyed or anything! Just curious.” 

“Well,  _ you _ know how protective my parents are and  _ I _ know you can’t keep a secret from them, especially one as big as this. They don’t really want me dating yet, but I think they might be ok since it’s Mark and he has your stamp of approval.” 

“Yeah, and we didn’t want to mess with the group dynamic, especially if this didn’t work out.” Mark reaches out to hold Hyuck’s hand gently as he speaks. 

The cat’s out of the bag now though. Obviously, Jaemin doesn’t want to keep this a secret from the others. In any case, he’s not great at keeping secrets like this so it wouldn’t last long regardless. Mark and Hyuck figure they may as well tell the rest of the group the next time they’re all together for lunch. 

It goes about as well as you’d expect. 

Jeno, for one, is mildly outraged but also very excited. He reminds Jaemin a bit of a puppy. Honestly, Jeno reminds Jaemin a little of a puppy a lot of the time. It’s cute. Jeno’s a bit annoyed they didn’t tell everyone right away, but understands they were afraid of messing everything up. He gets that. Also, they both look so happy he can’t be mad for very long. 

Renjun isn’t particularly surprised. He was perceptive enough to notice some sort of shift in their relationship -- Hyuck being a bit calmer, a lower level of gay panic, et cetera and so forth -- but didn’t want to mention anything without concrete evidence. He didn’t need Jaemin going off on another tangent with these plans of his. He is, however, a little annoyed that Hyuck let Jaemin go through all four plans before saying anything. To be fair, it was entertaining for everyone involved and kept Jaemin out of trouble for a couple weeks. Actually, on second thought, it’s probably good Hyuck let Jaemin’s creativity run its course. 

Chenle, of course, is very excited and a bit squeaky. Yes, he’s normally like that, but this is dialed up about three notches. He’s sitting at the table shaking Jisung. It’s not aggressive shaking, but it can’t exactly be classified as gentle either. 

“Oh my gosh they’re dating!! And that’s exciting!! Isn’t that exciting Jisung?? Mark and Hyuck are dating that’s so cool! I can’t wait to tell Jaehyun! He promised if he won the bet he’d give me half!! This is so exciting!!” Jisung just pats him on the head then grabs his hands to calm him down. 

Jisung, as usual, is somewhat nonplussed at the whole situation. He figures Chenle’s got enough excitement for the both of them. He is still happy for Mark and Hyuck, like any good friend would be. 

And thus, the first set of boyfriends arises. 


	3. The Plot Yawns & Gets Out Of Bed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mark is gay (in both senses of the word)  
> Hyuck wants his friends to get themselves together  
> Jeno is way too selfless  
> Renjun doesn’t think he fits  
> Jaemin thinks he did something wrong  
> Chenle is excessively excited  
> Jisung is tired of his hyungs
> 
> And here’s how ¾ of the 00 line get together

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back to How Obvious Can I Make My Bias: Chapter 3. I hope you all enjoy!!

October

Let’s start with some facts. First, polyamory is hard to negotiate even with proper communication, let alone without. Second, take it easy on them, they don’t know what they’re doing. To be fair, neither does anyone else. Third and finally, this is going to be a rollercoaster. 

Most people who meet Jeno, Renjun, and Jaemin and see any combination of them together for any length of time longer than about 13 seconds know they all have gigantic dumb crushes on each other. Unfortunately, they’re teenagers. When have teenagers ever been known to be smart about anything involving feelings? The answer is never. So they don’t know how to deal with any of it. 

It doesn’t help that Jeno and Jaemin have known each other longer than either of them have known Renjun, so they’re understandably closer emotionally and more affectionate physically. On the bright side, they both do try very hard to involve Renjun in the affection, especially once they learn that despite his apparent dislike for them he actually secretly enjoys cuddling and hugs. 

To be fair, their friend group as a whole is more physically affectionate than most. The one who’s probably the least cuddly of all of them is Jisung, but if he couldn’t handle affection he wouldn’t have become Chenle’s best friend. Jaemin and Hyuck especially are flirty and affectionate, and that hasn’t changed even since Hyuck and Mark started dating. It makes sense to everyone, since they’ve been friends for almost two decades now. 

This unfortunately leads Jeno to think Jaemin’s just super touchy with everyone, since he sees him hanging off of Hyuck all the time. If he asked Jaemin, he’d learn that he just gets touch-starved easily and Hyuck gives really good hugs. Also, they’ve known each other long enough that they can read each other’s moods and know when to back off so there’s less risk of annoying anyone. Jeno, though he’s known Jaemin for quite a while, isn’t always sure how much Jaemin is comfortable with. 

Jaemin has a lot of experience with different people and different levels of affection. For as long as he can remember, he’s shown pretty much every emotion with some sort of affection. He is of the opinion that any celebration or problem solving should start with a hug. As such, he thinks Jeno’s just reciprocating the affection out of friendliness. He’s noticed Jeno’s not as over-the-top with any of the other guys, even Renjun, and that he generally waits for Jaemin to initiate the touchiness. 

Renjun is understandably jealous of how close Jaemin and Jeno seem to be. He doesn’t know how to express it though, mostly because it takes him a while to realize the source of the feelings. Again, teenagers and emotions are a chaotic combination. Because of this, he ends up either pushing them away or being really clingy with little in between depending on his mood of the day. 

All three of them think they’re being subtle about this, as teenagers are wont to do. They’re not. They’re really not. Somehow, none of the three notice the other two being weird, but  _ everyone else _ within about a half-mile radius notices. 

That  _ everyone _ definitely includes the other four of their group, who know something has to be done. Unlike with Mark and Hyuck, who managed to get their shit together on their own, a combination of aforementioned factors means someone’s going to have to intervene. 

Since Mark and Hyuck have been dating long enough to have at least the basis of their relationship figured out, they decide to help their angsty friend trio. They decide to think of it like a bonding exercise. There’s no way Jisung and Chenle will do much more than laugh and occasionally provide commentary and/or shoulders to cry on, so they’re the only ones left. They both know this will be interesting but honestly, why can’t the three of them just  _ talk _ to each other? It’s really not that hard -- they would know. 

Until Mark and Hyuck can at least get the three of them to verbally recognize their feelings, all they can do is provide emotional support and encouragement, along with a little bit of one-on-one intervention occasionally. Hyuck, however, is planning ways to get more involved later. This may or may not be partial payback to Jaemin for his shenanigans last month. He isn’t planning much that he actually thinks will come to fruition, but it’s still fun to throw ideas out. 

Jisung and Chenle, as expected, spend most of their time quietly laughing at their hyungs. To be fair, their hyungs are gigantic idiots. Chenle, for one, is very excited for his bro to get a couple boyfriends. He has been sharing this excitement with both Jisung and Jaehyun at every available opportunity. Jisung is mildly exasperated about the lack of communication between Renjun, Jeno, and Jaemin. It might be a little hypocritical, but that won’t bite Jisung in the ass for a while yet. 

Honestly, it’s not like the three of them don’t  _ talk _ , they just don’t talk about their feelings. Even before the coffee “date” they had when Jaemin outlined his plan to get Mark and Hyuck together, they’ve met up pretty much every week. 

Generally they just all meet up to get some coffee -- a lot of coffee, in Jaemin’s case -- and chat. They like to use this time to get away from homework and school and all the pressure that comes with their last year of high school, so none of them are allowed to bring any kind of schoolwork. Jeno made it an official rule as soon as school started because Renjun was very stressed and needed some designated non-school time. 

A lot of different topics come up during their coffee “dates”: Jeno’s dance club, Jaemin and Renjun’s art club, choir, band, family stories, even just the weather. It’s a good time for all of them. Jaemin and Jeno always make an effort to keep Renjun involved and tell him about their inside jokes and some of their more entertaining childhood stories. It’s nice to be able to escape Mark and Hyuck being sappy and Chenle and Jisung being sassy for a while, especially while not stressing about essays and projects and everything else that school brings along. 

It all seems to be going along fantastically, but alas, all good things must come to an end. Like most situations of this nature, it’s all gradual changes that build up to decisions that can’t be undone. 

It all starts when Jeno’s late to a coffee meetup with the other two. He got caught up working on the choreography for a new song with Jisung. They’re doing a duet for their next recital and they’re both ecstatic. Jeno can’t wait to tell Renjun and Jaemin about it, but that excitement drops from a boil to a low simmer. Looking at them as he waits in line to order, he sees how happy and pretty they look together. Somehow, he feels like if he goes over there and interrupts he would somehow make it all less pretty and less light. 

All he really wants is for the two of them to be happy forever. In all honesty, he thinks they might be dating already but he’s afraid to ask. He doesn’t know why -- maybe he doesn’t want to be wrong? Or worse still, maybe he doesn’t want to be right. 

After that day, Jeno starts noticing how affectionate they are and feels like he’s butting in all the time. Consequently, he starts ducking out of Jaemin’s hugs and reciprocates his touches less and less. Jaemin, for one, seems just as content hanging off of Renjun. Jeno knows he should feel happy, or at least satisfied, because that’s what he intended, but seeing the two of them together makes him sad for some reason he can’t put his finger on. When they all meet up, Jeno does his darndest to make sure Jaemin and Renjun end up on the same side of the table, and he keeps his arms close and his feet tucked under his chair. 

The thing about the three of them that none of them realize is that although any given pair can be happy and cute, the dynamic works best with all three. Jeno, not realizing this, sees Jaemin and Renjun acting soft and sweet and touchy and thinks they look really pretty together. He then proceeds to decide he’d rather see them happy together than mess with it an risk fucking everything up. He doesn’t want to be  _ that guy _ , you know? He doesn’t want to be responsible for breaking the trio apart because he couldn’t stand his friends getting closer to each other than they are to him. 

For some reason, Jeno thinks it’ll be easier to see them together if he doesn’t have to do it quite so often, so he starts planting himself strategically at lunch and on the weekends when they all meet at the bakery. He sits far enough away that he’s out of arm’s reach, but not on the other side of the table, so he doesn’t have to look if he doesn’t want. He makes sure he’s also not far enough to make it obvious he’s avoiding them, because their friend group has a tendency to get involved when they think it necessary. Jeno doesn’t think it’s necessary at the moment. 

Oh, but if you thought Jeno was being dumb, just wait until Renjun starts making decisions. 

Renjun is religious about the coffee dates, but the three of them meet up other times to study as well. Renjun just kind of … stops showing up. As the omniscient narrator, I know he’s being dumb, but unfortunately he doesn’t know that and as I’m regretfully not God, I can’t just tell him. 

So, Renjun sees Jaemin and Jeno cuddling during one of their hangout times and thinks they look so good and so happy together. Renjun, with his ridiculously low self-esteem, thinks he doesn’t have a place there. Knowing that Jaemin and Jeno have known each other longer than he’s known them, that they have little jokes and habits and things that are just for the two of them doesn’t help either. 

Renjun, ever the self-aware, knows what his feelings are. He’s known for a while, but since neither Jaemin or Jeno seem to be aware of anything going on in their own heads, he hasn’t told anyone. Besides, if Jeno and Jaemin get together, his feelings will go away, right? 

Like with Mark and Hyuck, the best way to get people together is to give them alone time to realize and subsequently discuss their feelings. Thus, he begins doing the exact thing he doesn’t notice Jeno doing: “subtly” removing himself from situations with the three of them. 

Renjun keeps going to coffee dates. This is partially for his own stress levels, but also just his little selfish indulgence. They’re his best friends; he’s not trying to cut himself out of their lives entirely. He just wants to give them a little space so they can get together already and his heart can stop beating so fast whenever either of them touches him or smiles at him. 

He starts ditching their study sessions. These happen a couple times a week, so he figures it won’t take long for Jaemin to bite the bullet and just ask Jeno out; everyone knows Jeno’s too much of a panicked gay to actually ask Jaemin. This actually has another purpose as well. This gives him more time away from them to try to figure out how to get rid of his feelings. 

The first couple times he skips out, it’s excusable. Renjun’s a creative person and although he rarely uses it, that skill extends to excuses. He has good reasons -- Chenle got sick, he has a huge art project due that he has to stay at school for, et cetera and so forth -- until they run out and start getting flimsier and flimsier. Eventually, he stops giving reasons at all and just doesn’t show up. Neither Jaemin or Jeno confront him about it, so he assumes it’s fine. 

Neither Jaemin or Jeno are fine with this. They, unfortunately, just don’t know how to approach Renjun about it without him getting cagey and defensive, and that’s the last thing any of them want. 

Whenever he misses one of their meetups, no matter how much he tries to focus on his homework, his mind always ends up drifting to Jeno and Jaemin, wondering what they’re doing or if they notice he’s gone. He’s getting even less homework done than he would with them, but as long as no one notices the dark circles and his assignments get handed in on time, everything’s fine. His feelings aren’t going away and Jeno and Jaemin haven’t gotten together, but he’s fine. Everything’s fine. 

If anyone thought to ask Jaemin about this, however, they would quickly learn that he is  _ not _ fine. He’s stuck in the middle of Jeno and Renjun’s crises, quietly panicking and trying to pretend that everything’s alright. He’s sitting there, desperately hoping if he just pretends everything is normal, it’ll get back quicker. Obviously, with both his best friends pulling away from him, Jaemin is absolutely terrified that he did something wrong. He’s certain he messed everything up. 

He’s scared they found out about he’s gay, which he hasn’t explicitly told to anyone other than Hyuck, and they don’t want to be close with him anymore. He’s scared he overstepped a boundary and lost their trust. He’s scared he said something wrong and pissed them both off. He’s scared he fucked up and he  _ didn’t even notice _ . He’s absolutely terrified that there’s nothing he can do to make it better. 

Naturally, Jaemin does what he always does when he doesn’t know what else to do: he goes to Hyuck. Honestly, he’d usually go to Jeno or Renjun -- or both -- first, but that isn’t really an option at the moment. So he goes to Hyuck, who sits him down with a pint of ice cream, a fuzzy blanket, and a Studio Ghibli movie, petting his head and asking questions softly. 

Between silent sobs and catching his breath, Jaemin explains the situation as well as he can: how both Jeno and Renjun have been cold towards him recently, avoiding being caught alone with him, and he really just doesn’t know what to do. 

“Do you know what I might’ve done wrong? Or am I reading too much into this? I don’t … I don’t know what to do.” Jaemin’s voice is small, unsure, and Hyuck feels his heart break a little. The last time he heard Jaemin’s voice sound that fragile was when they were seven and Jaemin’s puppy had been run over by a car. He still remembers Jaemin, smaller than him then, curling into his embrace and asking if he thought Pipo was happy in heaven. 

Once Jaemin’s worked out his sadness and Hyuck sees it slowly devolving into panic, he interrupts with more aggressive cuddles and a new pint of ice cream. If he does this while murmuring under his breath that they’re all idiots, it’s perfectly deserved and no one has to know. 

In order to solve at least a third of that particular issue, Hyuck resolves to help Jaemin realize that he’s got a gigantic crush on the other two thirds of the issue, because somehow he hasn’t realized it yet. To be fair, Jaemin’s always been a bit slow with his own emotions, but never to this extent. Basically, he sits Jaemin down and works him manually through the “do you like them” process of asking leading questions. This will continue until either Jaemin figures it out himself or Hyuck gives up and straight up asks if he wants to kiss them. 

After about half an hour, Hyuck realizes that regardless of how much he flirts, Jaemin is surprisingly oblivious to his own real feelings. It’s a bit ridiculous, but there’s a reason they get along so well. 

“Jaemin. Do you want to kiss them?” Jaemin pauses, glancing at him wide-eyed.

“Yeah,” he says, really soft, then “oh.  _ Oh. _ OH! I want to kiss them and hold their hands and go on dates with them and Hyuck I really really like them!” 

Hyuck smiles warmly and drags Jaemin into a hug. 

“You oblivious idiot,” he murmurs, but it’s affectionate and Jaemin knows that. 

Unfortunately, Hyuck can’t really do anything else until he knows both Renjun and Jeno have realized their feelings. He thinks Renjun might have, given that he has more than 2 brain cells, but he’s got nothing concrete other than the fact that everyone in a 3 mile radius can tell they’re all crazy in love. 

As such, Hyuck sends Jaemin off to the “responsible adult” of the situation: Taeil. Everyone loves Jaemin’s parents, but Hyuck knows Jaemin’s always been a bit awkward bringing up stuff like this with them. Also, Taeil has the most experience with this sort of experience, though Taeil doesn’t know Hyuck knows about it. He has his sources, ok?

Jaemin visits Taeil at the next opportunity, which happens to be after work the next day. Taeil sits him down, sensing somehow that this is a bit more serious than their usual post-work conversations. After a bit of coaxing, Jaemin opens right up. Taeil lets him just verbally process for a bit before cutting in. 

“So I’m just wondering what the fuck I could’ve done wrong, because if I don’t even know that then I don’t know how to fix it but what if I don’t know how to fix it anyway, and how does me liking both of them fit in here? Do I have to pick? Oh god, how the hell am I going to choose --”

“Jaemin, honey, take a breath. I don’t need you passing out here and I certainly don’t need to try to explain that to your parents.” Jaemin obeys, breathing deeply and looking at him expectantly. “You don’t have to pick between them.” 

“Wait, what? What do you mean?” It’s Taeil’s turn to take a deep breath, preparing for the one aspect of his life he hasn’t told Jaemin about. 

“Have you ever heard of polyamory?”

That’s how Jaemin discovers that Taeil was in a polyamorous relationship with Taeyong and Johnny for a while in college. They broke up, mostly because they all wanted different things, but partially because through that relationship Taeil learned he’s aromantic and Johnny learned he’s asexual. Now, Johnny’s got Ten and Taeyong is doing whatever it is he’s doing with Jaehyun and they still all get together pretty frequently to just hang out. They all agree this is the best outcome they could’ve hoped for. 

At the end of the conversation, Jaemin is feeling much more confident in his own feelings, even if he isn’t entirely convinced he hasn’t majorly pissed off Jeno or Renjun or both. 

Hyuck, after conspiring with Mark, Jisung, and Chenle, comes to the conclusion that the best way to get them all together is the one that will be the most entertaining. This, in typical Dramatic Hyuck™ style, entails a very convoluted process. Jisung will bring Jeno over to his house after dance practice, Chenle has to drag Renjun there under the guise of helping them with homework, and Hyuck will bring Jaemin along with promises of cooking with Jisung and Chenle. 

Somehow, incredibly, that all works without any major delays and everyone ends up at Jisung’s house. Hyuck brought Mark along too because he didn’t want to miss any of the drama. After about ten seconds of confusion on the parts of Jaemin and Jeno and two seconds of confusion followed by eight seconds of resignation from Renjun, all three of them are shoved unceremoniously into a bedroom. The door opens soon after, but it’s only wide enough to allow a bowl of chips and a bowl of fruit.

“You come out and have dinner once you’ve figured your shit out. We’ll be making mac ‘n cheese,” comes an announcement from the other side of the door. It sounds like Chenle. Renjun laughs a little because of course they’d make mac ‘n cheese -- he and Jaemin are the only two who can actually cook. 

After about five minutes of awkward silence, broken only by chips crunching, Jaemin gives in. He’s just so sick and tired of all the tension and fear and just wants it all to end, however it happens. He figures he’s got nothing to lose now, since his best friends are already pulling away, so he might as well throw caution to the wind and get it all out. He takes a deep breath, drawing Jeno and Renjun’s attention.

“I like both of you a lot like romantically like you and I really really don’t know what to do about it so please please  _ please _ don’t hate me?” It all comes out in one breath and his last word rises like a question, quiet and unsure. Silence settles back over the room, heavy and suffocating. Jaemin curls into himself, preparing for the inevitable rejection. 

Upon seeing his hopeless reaction, Jeno and Renjun immediately lunge over to comfort him, all pretenses forgotten. Quietly, they both confess, as gentle and heartfelt as they can possibly make it. Jaemin reaches out and takes both of their hands, then Jeno reaches across Jaemin to grab Renjun’s. 

They spend about ten minutes just holding hands, catching up from the last couple weeks of avoidance, and enjoying each others’ company without having to worry about self-sacrifice or nosy friends. Eventually, though, Jeno’s stomach rumbles, breaking the silence and they all laugh. 

After a quick assessment that the fruit and chips aren’t enough, they all prepare themselves to head back into the chaos downstairs and, holding hands, head out. This is when they realize that the door wasn’t even locked. 

“Those little --” Renjun starts, then cuts himself off. Jaemin and Jeno laugh. 

As they enter the kitchen, Hyuck starts a round of applause and the others quickly join in. They all settle in to enjoy their mac ‘n cheese. If they hold hands under the table whenever possible, that’s nobody’s business but their own. 

Mark, who hasn’t been particularly involved in the whole chaotic experience but has heard about every detail from Hyuck, is incredibly happy for them. He knows a bit about Taeil, Johnny, and Taeyong’s story from Johnny, so he really hopes this works out for them. As a little celebratory gift, he gives the three of them extra mac ‘n cheese and an slightly bigger piece of the cake Hyuck brought from the bakery. How Hyuck managed to keep the writing on it, which says “Congrats on figuring out polyamory!!” from Jaemin on the way over is a mystery to everyone. Mark doesn’t even know how he explained the cake in the first place, since the two of them were already together when he picked them up. Mark makes a mental note to ask about that later because he has no idea what’s funnier: Hyuck making a cake, writing that on it, and frantically trying to hide it from Doyoung in any way possible, or Hyuck going to another bakery and asking them to write that on a cake. 

Hyuck, who’s very proud that they actually managed to communicate, makes them all pinky promise that they’ll actually talk to each other about feelings and such from now on. This is especially important because college applications are hanging over all of their heads, and trust me, that’s been known to break relationships. 

Chenle is hella excited about the whole situation. First, because he won another bet, but only Jisung knows about that. Second, more of his friends are dating! He spends about half an hour clinging to Jisung and exuding excitement. 

“Aren’t they so cute?! Oh my gosh I love our friends!! Isn’t this great Jisung?! You must be at least a little excited!! Ooh also cake is good that’s also very exciting!!” and his face basically takes on the :D emoticon for the rest of the evening. He’s also excited to take Jisung out for ice cream with the money he’ll get from Taeyong the next time he works. 

Jisung is honestly mostly just glad all the teen angst has resolved itself. Oh, if he only knew what the cruel and clever hand of fate has in store for him. 

 

Even with Jeno, Renjun, and Jaemin dating, the group dynamics don’t really change. Of course, they’re really affectionate, but they’ve always been pretty affectionate with each other, as well as with everyone else. The biggest changes are probably Jaemin, who mostly stops clinging to Hyuck for a while and Mark, who immediately takes advantage of the free real estate for affection and gets all the cuddles in that he can. At one point a week or two in, Mark and Hyuck accidentally start an unofficial competition with the trio. The challenge is, to make a long story short, “who can be the cutest couple.” There’s not judge, just their pride. Mark and Hyuck quickly learn that Jaemin, Jeno, and Renjun  _ do not _ back down from a challenge. 

Even outside of that challenge, Renjun, Jeno, and Jaemin to on all sorts of cute dates like stargazing, petting zoos, and long walks on the beach. On top of that, they still get together to study at home, but there’s significantly more cuddling involved than there was before because let’s be honest, no high schoolers have the money as well as the motivation to go on actual dates all the time. That’s way too much effort. Also, homework exists and if they can multitask by cuddling  _ and  _ doing homework that’s the best idea ever. 

Now that school’s in full swing, the trio is absolutely that annoying “couple” that no one can really be mad at because they’re just so pure and cute. Renjun threatening murder every once in a while does nothing to dissuade this image, particularly in Jeno and Jaemin’s eyes. He’s cute even when threatening murder. The three of them have some classes together, in which teachers kind of want to separate them but somehow find themselves unable to. Most of their classes, though, have at most a pair, like Jaemin and Renjun in art or Renjun and Jeno in advanced history. Jaemin’s smart, but gosh he just doesn’t have the patience for history. 

Jaemin’s flirting and overall confident gay existence continues to send both Jeno and Renjun into gay panics. Jeno continues to be the literal ray of sunshine that he is. Renjun continues semi-constantly panicking, but he’s getting better at not showing it, as well as making his boyfriends -- especially Jeno because he’s found Jaemin’s surprisingly hard to fluster -- panic right back. 

And thus, the second set officially become boyfriends. 


	4. The Plot Gets Dressed & Eats Breakfast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mark wants to help the children  
> Hyuck thinks Mark wants to be a dad or something  
> Jeno doesn’t want to get involved but does anyway  
> Renjun just wants to kiss his boyfriends  
> Jaemin should probably stop meddling in his friends’ love lives  
> Chenle thinks he might be overly optimistic  
> Jisung is quite simply confused
> 
> And here’s how the last two get their s*** together

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!! We have returned to Regularly Scheduled Updates. The final chapter will be next Thursday. Once again, thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoy!!  
> Also, just a quick thing: I use “couples” here to refer to both MarkHyuck and NoRenMin, mostly because of convenience. Sorry if that bugs anyone.

November

The basic gist of this situation is that Chenle and Jisung are small and cute and innocent -- at least, relative to the rest of their friend group -- and just want to pet animals together. Over the course of less than two months, all of their friends are suddenly dating. To be fair, that’s a pretty small sample size, but the point stands regardless. In all honesty, neither of them particularly minds because they always have each other to talk to. Also, surrounded by friends who are dating, there’s never a shortage of entertaining drama to discuss. 

Honestly, the biggest drama that happens is usually about their coworkers. There was a solid month of everyone questioning whether Jaehyun and Taeyong were together, accompanied by Chenle laughing smugly and refusing to tell anyone what he knew. Finally, Jaemin ran into the two of them on a date while he was at the movies with his mom and dad. His first step was to immediately let the group chat know and his second was to go silent for the next two and a half hours for the movie while the chat exploded with confusion and excitement, periodically interspersed by Chenle laughing maniacally. 

Next, Doyoung and Kun were fighting for a while and that was both terrifying and more entertaining than it ought to have been. Hyuck bore the brunt of this one, having to work with a grumpy Doyoung for two weeks. Jaemin, Jeno, and Renjun, who visit Kun’s coffee shop pretty frequently, also experienced a grumpy Kun, which is where the more terrifying aspect of this comes in. Seriously, he’s intimidating enough normally, let alone when he’s angry. Thankfully, the two of them resolved whatever it was they were struggling with after about two weeks of angsting and everything resumed as it had been before. 

Ten and Johnny are still working furiously on planning their wedding and don’t show any sign of stopping. It’s not happening until spring but they both want every little detail to be perfect and will settle for absolutely nothing less. Mark, who has been dragged into that whole fiasco, often has some choice words to say about their decisions, or lack thereof. He announces loudly one day that if or when he gets married, it’ll happen at most two months after engagement and it’ll be the chillest wedding anyone has ever seen. He’s had enough wedding planning for two lifetimes and he isn’t even engaged to anyone. 

To an outsider, the whole group of them together for lunch must be a rather odd, albeit entertaining, sight. Thankfully, since they still usually go to the bakery, most of the time it’s just Doyoung and a couple regular customers there to judge them. Any time they go elsewhere, though, they get some odd looks and the occasional snide comment. They’ve all learned to ignore it. In their group, Hyuck spends as much time as possible hanging off of Mark, who’s half pretending he doesn’t like it and half cuddling back; Jaemin, Jeno, and Renjun just continue to be the soft boyfriends that they are, accompanied by a lot of physical affection; Jisung and Chenle talk and joke about whatever comes to mind, including the people sitting around them. Really, the two of them are both good with just chilling and making fun of their friends. It’s all good-natured and nothing malicious, don’t worry. 

Of course, one day that has to change. We wouldn’t have this story otherwise. That fateful afternoon, the two of them are hanging out in Jisung’s room, working on homework and chatting while Chenle’s study music plays softly in the background. This isn’t anything unusual -- in fact they study together most afternoons. They’re both more productive if someone else is there to keep them accountable for staying on task. Chenle’s absorbed in a calculus problem, his brow furrowed and tongue poking out a little. Jisung looks at Chenle, draped in sunlight and one of his oversized sweatshirts and thinks  _ he’s so cute … I want to kiss him _ . 

Alright, so you know the thing that happens in movies where a character says something they shouldn’t have and instead of responding like a normal human being by quietly saying “whoops” or keeping their mouth shut and being subtle, they gasp dramatically and slap a hand over their mouth, thereby eliminating any possibility that anyone didn’t notice the slip? Yeah, that thing. Jisung responds to his thought by doing that, but in his brain. Thus comes his realization that he likes Chenle. 

Unfortunately, like many high schoolers, Jisung’s a little bit of an idiot. As such, he doesn’t say anything to Chenle, or anyone else for that matter. In his defense, he has honestly no idea whether Chenle likes him or not, and doesn’t want to mess anything up. Just because tropes exist doesn’t necessarily mean they’re unrealistic. On the other hand, given the track record this friend group has of their crushes liking them back, you’d think he’d have learned the statistics are on his side here. 

Jisung finds it surprisingly easy to hide his crush. He and Chenle are always affectionate and stick together, so his touches lingering or him wanting to be physically close aren’t anything out of the ordinary, and certainly not anything someone would question. Jisung thinks this might just be enough. He thinks he might be able to survive with just this. Obviously he wants more; he wants to kiss Chenle and call him his boyfriend and shout to the whole world that this is the boy he likes, but he can settle for hugs and friendship. 

Of course, as the statistics Jisung should have listened to would predict, Chenle’s realization comes fairly soon. It’s only a couple of days after Jisung’s, in fact. 

This time, however, it’s at school. Jisung and Chenle share all of their classes except 4th hour, when Jisung takes a dance class and Chenle has choir. During History, which is right after lunch, the two of them are working on a project together. Chenle looks over to see Jisung working quietly. He looks so calm and gentle that Chenle doesn’t know how to react. He sits there, staring at Jisung for a couple moments before his brain helpfully supplies,  _ hey he’s cute … you two should date _ . The thought flutters around his brain for a few moments before settling, allowing him to process it and subsequently get confused. 

Realizing he’s been staring at Jisung for a couple minutes now and it probably looks weird, Chenle quickly turns back to his work. He’s still confused, but dating Jisung doesn’t sound like a bad idea. Actually, now that he’s thinking about it, dating sounds really nice. They’re already as close to dating as you can get without actually confessing or anything, especially since they’re the last two singles in their friend group. Whenever smaller group things happen, the two of them always end up together because neither will allow the other to get stuck alone with a couple. Additionally, when they both need a break from all the mush and lovey-dovey stuff going on with the couples, they get together and hang out. Complaining about couples is definitely a bonding experience, trust me. People outside their friend group assume they’re dating all the time. 

On days when Chenle isn’t working, he’ll still stop by the pet shelter and visit Jisung because Taeyong doesn’t mind him being there. He says he calms the animals -- and Jisung -- so it’s less stressful for him. 

Basically, the two of them are questioning “are we dating? I think we’re dating but I’m not sure, like we could be dating or he might just think we’re close friends. I mean, the rest of our friend group is dating but that doesn’t necessarily mean we have to, but also I really think we kind of already are and the more that I think about it, the more I want to. What do I do now?” Unfortunately, since they’re both cowards, neither of them wants to be the one to push or ask for more because they’re afraid of rejection. If only we all had an omniscient narrator around to tell us what other people think of us. Wouldn’t that be great?

For a while, they just stay like that, metaphorically -- and sometimes literally -- dancing around each other while pretending nothing changed. Eventually, Chenle starts working up some courage, bolstered by Jaehyun’s active and very vocal support, and decides to start pushing a little bit. He just wants to see how it goes, to start bumping the boundaries because what’s the worst that could happen? As such, he starts getting even clingier with Jisung, making borderline flirty comments and acting a bit more territorial. 

Rather counterproductively, the main thing this serves to do is confuse Jisung. Jisung knows that sometimes people just want more affection than usual, but also sometimes people want to date. He’s not really sure where that particular line is in this situation, and is unfortunately too shy to ask anyone. 

While he doesn’t have the guts to ask about this particular situation, Jisung manages to have the guts to do something dumb. He goes to Jaemin and asks for relationship advice. Now, that’s not the dumb thing; Jaemin’s actually quite good at relationship advice, but that’s all relative to everyone else in their friend group. He’s a bit less emotional than Jeno, but more empathetic than Renjun, and no one in their right mind would go to Hyuck for actual advice. Also, Jaemin has recently “adopted” Jisung so he thinks he’ll actually be helpful. No, the dumb thing is that when Jaemin asks who Jisung is interested in, he says it’s about a girl in his grade. He doesn’t know if Chenle likes him, but he  _ does _ know that Jaemin likes to meddle, and that sounds like a mess in the making. 

It’s Jaemin’s turn to be confused. He was  _ absolutely positive _ that Jisung has a crush on Chenle. However, he decides to trust Jisung’s word and take him at face value. He gives some relatively generic advice about the importance of communication and levels of physical affection before sending Jisung on his merry way. As predicted, he immediately gets to meddling. 

As most people would, Jaemin heads to Chenle first to see if he knows who Jisung likes. This, as expected, is a terrible idea but that’s dramatic irony for you. Chenle’s visibly surprised that Jisung would go to Jaemin before him, but rationalizes it with the fact that Jaemin has two more boyfriends than he does, and has much more relationship experience in general. Of course, Chenle has no idea who Jisung “likes,” but makes a couple educated guesses anyway. 

Jaemin, for one, learns immediately from the small sad smile and sudden drop in energy that Chenle does, in fact, like Jisung. He wisely chooses not to disclose this information to anyone at the moment, least of all Chenle, who would feel incredibly self-conscious about it. 

Renjun and Jeno get dragged into this because they’re lovely helpful human beings who coincidentally can’t say no to their boyfriend pouting. Jaemin first sends Jeno off to talk to the other people at his and Jisung’s dance club about who Jisung might have a crush on, since Jeno himself has no ideas other than Chenle. Apparently, the other dancers have the same idea. All of them give Jeno some variation of “oh, that loud/blond/tiny/cute boy he’s always with. Aren’t they already dating?” as an answer. 

“Well, that was absolutely no help,” says Jeno, but he tells Jaemin anyway. Jaemin, rather than being annoyed or disheartened, nods thoughtfully. 

“Okay that helps! Thank you, darling!” he says, and gives Jeno a kiss on the cheek. 

Jeno has stopped questioning Jaemin. This may or may not be related to getting kisses. 

Renjun, on the other hand, gets the fun task of terrifying freshman girls. Well, that’s not exactly what Jaemin told him to do but he can’t help it if the freshman girls think he’s scary. He goes to talk to all the girls Chenle proposed and while they all think Jisung’s pretty great and everything, they all also think Jisung and Chenle are dating. None of them have any inkling as to who Jisung might like beyond his other half. He leaves them to discuss the latest freshman gossip, which apparently involves a couple of girls, a goldfish, and some pretzels. He decides he doesn’t want to know.

Awkwardly, two of the aforementioned girls are dating and that causes two things: first, a pretty uncomfortable conversation in which Renjun has to explain the whole situation and second, a red flag because Jisung’s actually quite observant and tends to notice when people are dating or have good chemistry. Unfortunately, this apparently does not extend into any kind of self-awareness. To be fair, Chenle does not quite have this sense. 

Renjun also reports his findings back to Jaemin, receives a similar thoughtful but positive response, and earns a kiss on the cheek as well. 

Renjun has also stopped questioning the antics. This may also have to do with kisses. 

You’d be surprised how much Jaemin can get away with when it comes to Jeno and Renjun in return for kisses. 

Anyway, back to the children. 

The next time Jisung and Chenle hang out, a few days later, Chenle casually mentions Jisung’s “crush.” Jisung panics for approximately 4 seconds before he remembers telling Jaemin, who has a well-known penchant for meddling in the affairs of others. He calms down for a moment, only worried about who else Jaemin might have told, but then starts panicking again because oh no, Chenle thinks he likes someone else now. That means even if he works up the courage, he can’t make any moves towards advancing their relationship. 

He stutters through some vague response about how he hadn’t mentioned it because he didn’t think it was going anywhere and didn’t want to make Chenle feel obligated to help out or anything. Chenle’s dying a little inside, but puts on the best fake smile he can. 

“Well, you should’ve told me! I want to help, anyway -- no coercion necessary! I can be your wingman!” He’s pretty proud of the fact that his voice only cracks a little and even then he doesn’t think Jisung notices. 

After more pestering, throughout which Chenle’s voice gets more confident but the lump in his chest only grows, Jisung finally gives in and tells Chenle who his “crush” is. When he agrees to tell, Chenle isn’t sure if he’s relieved or not. The name Jisung mutters is actually one of the previously mentioned girls in a relationship, but Chenle might not know that. Does he hope Chenle will find out and know he hiding something or has he actually forgotten? You’ll soon find out. 

Chenle, who just wants Jisung to be happy even if he isn’t necessarily in the role he would’ve preferred, vows to help Jisung get his girl however possible. He asks about her, tries to set up opportunities for the two of them to work together, and pushes Jisung to talk to her when the opportunities arise. Jisung doesn’t really know how to respond to this because he knows she has a girlfriend, but can’t really stop Chenle without giving up the whole thing and having to explain his real crush. That’s the absolute last thing he ever wants to do. Consequently, he tugs her aside during dance a few days later, quietly explaining what’s going on. Thankfully, she’s understanding and they laugh about the whole situation. He asks her to explain it to her girlfriend as well, so he doesn’t get beat up. 

Jisung and Chenle are close, and neither wants this situation to change that. Over the next week or so, the two of them try desperately to keep their relationship as close as possible to what it was before. However, they both know there’s been a huge shift in their relationship. All their friends can tell as well, meaning people keep asking quiet, awkward questions to one or the other. It’s just made the whole situation much more strained and uncomfortable. Neither one of them knows how to fix any of it, mostly because neither knows exactly what went wrong. 

Thankfully, this is where Mark and Hyuck take the opportunity to step in. 

Hyuck, having known Jaemin for essentially forever, is somewhat of an expert in the area of “Cleaning Up After Jaemin Meddles And Gets Into Something He Should Have Left Alone.” Jaemin just wants to help, but Hyuck knows better than anyone that he’s a bit dumb sometimes. To be fair, the rest of them are as well. All of them combined, however, have at least 4 brain cells and that’s enough to do things sometimes. 

Alright, so Mark and Hyuck have decided to intervene. Mark, like Jaemin, actually has a pretty good guess of what’s going on here. He knows Jisung’s feeling all too well, and he’s pretty sure Chenle likes him back. Hyuck’s a little more focused on making sure Jaemin doesn’t mess anyone’s friendship up accidentally. When he eventually puts more thought into the situation, though, he figures it out pretty quick. Jisung and Chenle aren’t exactly subtle. 

Because he wants to help his children, Mark decides to talk to Jisung and Chenle separately. Chenle is pretty quick to spill the beans, and it’s about what Mark suspected: he’s got a crush on Jisung but isn’t saying anything about it because, from where he is, it’s pretty obvious that Jisung doesn’t like him back and that’s just a recipe for disaster. He likes his friendship where it is, thank you very much. Mark can’t do much other than give him a big hug, some encouragement, and probably some junk food before letting him get back to his homework. He reassures Chenle it’ll hopefully all be resolved soon, and that he knows it’ll turn out better than Chenle expects. Chenle looks suspicious, but doesn’t question further. 

Jisung, on the other hand, is a bit harder to crack. He always has been. Mark works his way to the topic slowly, talking about school and dance first because he can tell Jisung’s at his wits’ end with people asking about his crush and love life. Eventually, he brings it up by asking how Chenle seems to be handling sharing his best friend. Jisung falters, stuttering for a moment before getting his thoughts in order. 

“I … I think I messed up.” He somehow sounds confident and incredibly unsure at the same time. 

“You really like him, huh,” says Mark. He doesn’t say it like a question. It’s just a gentle statement of acknowledgement. After about 5.7 seconds, Mark has an incredibly overwhelmed, halfway-to-sobbing Jisung in his arms. That in and of itself is pretty worrying, considering Jisung, unlike Jeno or Hyuck, isn’t the type to cry a lot. He emotes in different ways. Now, though, he’s just so scared he’s damaged his bond with Chenle beyond repair that he doesn’t know how else to respond. 

Mark holds him for a while, only shifting to make them both more comfortable. He lets Jisung cry himself out before he tries to hold a conversation again. After Jisung’s sobs have faded past whimpers and to soft breathing, Mark checks that he’s still awake, then starts talking. He works Jisung through how to fix this, starting with clearing everything up with Chenle, then moving on to the rest of the group. 

Jisung’s still very worried about talking to Chenle. This is mostly because he still isn’t entirely sold on the whole idea of putting it all out there but hey, this is his best friend he’s talking about. If anyone will understand it’ll be Chenle. 

His mind made up, Jisung immediately marches over to Chenle’s house, now very determined to clear this whole mess up. If he gets a boyfriend in the process, that would be great as well. As soon as he deals with that, he’s going to go have a talk with Jaemin about meddling in people’s love lives -- if Mark doesn’t beat him to it, that is. He soon realizes Renjun might have that idea as well, once Renjun opens the door for him. Of course, Renjun knows what’s going on. Somehow, he always does. Jisung knows to never underestimate how much Renjun knows about any given situation because he always knows more than he lets on. It’s a little infuriating but also makes for great entertainment, as long as you’re not actively involved in the situation. Then it’s just really infuriating. 

Renjun answers the door glaring angrily, but after one look at the desperation on Jisung’s face he just steps aside and gestures for him to head up the stairs. Jisung takes off, barely remembering to take his shoes off before sprinting up the stairs and bursting into Chenle’s room. Chenle looks up, surprised, and suddenly everything Jisung had planned to say and perfectly scripted out on his way over flies out of his head. He stands awkwardly in the doorway for a few seconds as Chenle continues to look at him, confused. Finally, Jisung pulls himself out of his stupor and moves towards Chenle’s desk, where he’s sitting. He pulls Chenle up so they’re standing eye to eye. 

“Can I kiss you?” he asks in the softest voice ever, holding Chenle’s hands like they’re delicate and precious. Chenle squeaks a bit. 

“I-- yeah,” he manages, looking a little overwhelmed and a lot relieved. 

They kiss. It’s cute and soft and everything you’d expect of a first kiss between the two of them. Unfortunately, the moment is quickly broken by a shout coming up the stairs. 

“USE PROTECTION!” Renjun hollers before they hear the front door close. The two of them sit and talk for hours. First, Jisung explains how the whole situation happened, then Chenle explains his side of it. Now that it’s behind them, they’re both able to laugh about how dumb they were. After they’ve exhausted that topic, they just catch up on the last couple weeks, since they haven’t been talking much recently. 

Jisung doesn’t end up going to talk to Jaemin for a couple of reasons. Mark texts him to let him know that it’s dealt with, which Jisung takes to mean that Mark and Renjun both threatened Jaemin. Also, Jisung gets a bit distracted with cuddling Chenle. In his defense, Chenle is a  _ fantastic _ cuddle buddy, and he also has more plushies than Jaemin, which is saying something. 

To be perfectly honest, Jisung and Chenle finally becoming an official couple really doesn’t change anything in the group dynamics. Besides, it’s almost the end of November, so who has time for group dynamic shifts when there’s a holiday party to plan. 

As for the two of them, the only real changes in their relationship are the addition of more physical affection -- not that they were particularly lacking that to begin with -- and the official labels of “dates” and “boyfriends” and all that jazz. 

And with that, the final couple comes together. 


	5. The Plot Gets In The Car & Leaves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mark is a practical gift-giver  
> Hyuck ends up covered in cake-decorating supplies  
> Jeno finally puts his flower knowledge to good use  
> Renjun will forever be surprised by Hyuck and Jaemin’s antics  
> Jaemin thinks he’s funny  
> Chenle is very excited about the snacks  
> Jisung never knows what gifts to get people but he’s trying anyway
> 
> And here’s them all having a party because plot is overrated

December

Now that the holiday season is approaching, life is starting to get chaotic. Well, it’s starting to get even more chaotic than normal. The fact that they’re all happily in relationships doesn’t mean there’s never drama or a metaphorical tornado of rumors following the group around. 

Alright, so you know the holiday party I mentioned? The time has come and the planning for that is in full swing. The basics as they’ve figured them out so far are as follows: Renjun and Chenle are hosting, Renjun and Jaemin and Jeno are in charge of decorating, Jisung and Chenle are in charge of activities and music, and Mark and Hyuck are in charge of snacks. 

Renjun and Chenle are hosting for a couple of reasons. The main and most obvious one is that they have the biggest and arguably prettiest house, but they also have the lowest likelihood of parents interfering since they’re out of town all the time and it’s not fair to make just one person deal with both the set-up and take-down of all the stuff. It’s just the most efficient. Also, they offered and no one could come up with any better ideas. 

Renjun, Jaemin, and Jeno are in charge of decorations because Renjun can, for the most part at least, keep his boyfriends under control and stop them from going  _ too _ overboard. Also, Jaemin and Renjun have a really good eye for color -- it comes with being an artist -- and Jeno thought decorations sounded like a lot of fun. You can’t say no to Jeno, especially when he’s making puppy dog eyes. Actually, the trio almost ended up in charge of snacks because Jaemin can cook and Renjun can help, but Jeno can’t be trusted in a kitchen. That would mean he wouldn’t be able to help and that made him sad, so that task was delegated elsewhere. 

Jisung and Chenle called dibs on music as soon as the topic was brought up, and readily accepted the task of finding activities as well. They both love music and have a great feel for tone, and their tastes are varied enough that they will end up with songs everyone can enjoy. To be fair, no one in their friend group is particularly picky when it comes to music, so that helps. Also, Chenle’s the most familiar with the sound system in the house -- even more so than Renjun. He takes really good care of it because both of them use it for choir and occasional dance stuff as well as just listening. As for activities, they’re also a great pair for that. Whenever no one has any idea what to do or when everyone’s bored, Jisung and Chenle are always the ones who come up with something to do. Their ideas may usually be ridiculous, but they’re  _ always _ fun. 

Finally, Mark and Hyuck are in charge of snacks. First, Hyuck plus bakery equals good food. That’s really nothing new. Everyone knows Doyoung’s more lenient with Hyuck than anyone else and he’ll let him bake whatever he wants when there aren’t customers. Also, with Mark, they’ll have the help of Ten and Johnny, who are a refined, classy couple when they put in the effort. They host enough parties that Johnny’s been supplying Mark with tasty, non-messy snacks for  _ months _ . Mark has no idea why Johnny was giving them to him, but they’ll come in handy here regardless. Hyuck is very excited about this because he’s been trying to get Mark to bake with him for like 3 months now and the perfect opportunity has finally arrived. 

Now the planning shenanigans can begin. 

Jisung and Chenle have a mild tendency to procrastinate, as many high schoolers do. Because of this, it’s a bit surprising that they’re the first ones done with their prep. To be fair, the do have the easiest job, in some respects. 

Honestly, the playlists took roughly 12 hours of them sending song recommendations to each other, then compiling all the approved ones into a pump-up dance playlist and a chill late-night playlist. Most of the songs they sent to each other got approved for one of the playlists, but some weren’t quite upbeat enough for the jam playlist but not quite calm enough for the chill playlist. 

The next step was activities, which took a little longer. That was mostly because they had several debates over what the others would enjoy more. After that got settled, there was the obvious question of in what order the activities should be done that also had to be dealt with. Renjun had to intervene a little, but Chenle and Jisung didn’t tend to get too heated so it all went pretty smoothly. 

The decorations, on the other hand, took a bit more negotiation and a bit more time. First, Jeno and Jaemin got a bit over-excited and wanted to buy way more stuff than necessary, like tablecloths and things Renjun insists they already have at home. Luckily, in the end Renjun was able to talk them down to a more reasonable amount, especially since most of these decorations are only going to get used once, so they kept it a bit more understated. 

Once they’ve bought everything, they get to wait until the day before the party to set it all up. That takes a couple hours, a lot of negotiation, and some mild bribery, but eventually everything’s set up and ready. Since they decided to set up the day before the party, they don’t have to worry about it the day of and can instead worry about wrapping gifts and picking outfits. 

The snacks, unfortunately for Mark and Hyuck, are the most difficult part of this whole thing. Hyuck, of course, has specific plans for exactly what he envisions and how he wants this done. It’s way more effort than Mark thinks they should put into it. 

“It’s all just going to get eaten anyway,” he argues, “and it’s not like the guys are really going to understand or appreciate how much work went into it.” Hyuck doesn’t see it that way, and Mark repeatedly has to talk him down from several increasingly extravagant ideas. Luckily for everyone’s sanity, they find a compromise pretty quickly. Although Mark sets a bar of effort Hyuck’s allowed to put into any individual snack, he does allow Hyuck to put frosting flowers and other little decorations on just about everything. Mark will readily admit that the decorations are tasteful and honestly really pretty. Hyuck does know what he’s doing, after all. 

In the end, they have a nice variety of both healthy and unhealthy snacks ranging from salty to savory to sweet, and because Hyuck decided to be high-maintenance, both hot and cold. 

 

For once, everyone arrives on time to the party. After all the necessary formalities have been completed and the food and gifts arranged, they adjourn to the living room, where Jisung and Chenle’s party music is already playing. Hyuck brings the first round of snacks into the living room with him so no one will be hungry. 

Before the activities begin and chaos inevitably erupts, they decide to do gift-giving. After that’s done, they can do activities and gossip. They decide, for the sake of both drama and avoiding confusion, that each person will open all their gifts, then they’ll move on to the next person. This means everyone will get to see the reactions of the people their gifts are for as well as just the general entertainment of seeing what everyone gets. Somehow, it’s decided that they’ll go in age order, probably just to prevent arguments or an infinite number of rounds of Rock Paper Scissors. 

Thus, Mark begins. He gets: the new camera lenses he’s had his eye on for a while from Renjun, a couple CDs of artists he likes as well as blue and lavender campanulas from Jeno, a really cute handwritten note that he  _ does not _ read out loud and a couple bracelet from Hyuck, a book called “How to Not Always be Working” along with some tea and a couple bath bombs from Jaemin, more chocolate than any human should have at once from Chenle, and Clue the board game from Jisung because,  _ and I quote _ , “it was the only thing I could find that’s more dramatic than our friend group.” He has a good point, and Mark says so. 

Next, it’s Renjun’s turn. He gets: a new set of high-quality paintbrushes and some nice oil pastels from Mark, ruffled lavender peonies and a lot of Moomin merch from Jeno, some special-made pastries and other assorted junk food from Hyuck because “you’re too skinny, Junnie!” which is immediately followed by the sound of Hyuck being smacked, a package of passive aggressive balloons and a couple bracelet from Jaemin, some really pretty necklaces from Chenle because apparently Renjun doesn’t wear necklaces enough, and a gift card to a local art store from Jisung because he doesn’t know how art works but wants to help anyway. Chenle points out that it might be too much Moomin merch, but Renjun responds that there is no such thing as too much Moomin merch. 

Obviously, Jeno has his turn next. He gets: a really neat floral bomber jacket from Mark, a painting from Renjun, a couple new video games from Hyuck, a book of jokes and a couple bracelet from Jaemin, various chocolate and candy from Chenle, and some books about different types of dance from Jisung. The painting from Renjun is particularly beautiful. It looks a bit like a collage, and Renjun sheepishly explains it’s of the things Jeno reminds him of: sunshine, warm turquoise waters, gently blooming flowers, and somehow it encapsulates that excited bubbly feeling you get in your chest when you’re around someone you really like. 

Hyuck excitedly dives into his pile. He gets: a cute note and a sweatshirt with a horrible English up on it from Mark, several candles of various scents -- vanilla, lavender, and champagne -- from Renjun, a bouquet of sunflowers and a cozy forest green scarf from Jeno, a book of ridiculous cakes for him to try from Jaemin, a blank staff notebook for writing music in from Chenle, and a bunch of records of Michael Jackson and some similar artists from Jisung. Flipping through the cake book, Hyuck quickly decides the next time Doyoung lets him make the custom cakes, he’s going to do a carousel. 

They then proceed to Jaemin. He gets: some books about various programming languages from Mark, a painting from Renjun, a bunch of stuffed animals as well as a super warm super soft blanket and pink roses from Jeno, a cookbook of family recipes from Hyuck, a couple flavors of lip gloss -- strawberry, mint, and apple -- and an adorable stuffed borzoi puppy from Chenle, and a pair of fuzzy sweatpants and a cactus from Jisung. Jaemin names the cactus Steve, even though he can barely pronounce it. His painting from Renjun is of a cozy fireplace on a cold winter night, drinking tea and cocoa while wrapped in blankets, the colors of autumn trees, sweaters and fuzzy socks, and it somehow visually represents a warm comforting hug from a loved one. 

Chenle, who has been eagerly and not very patiently awaiting his turn, is allowed to begin. He gets: a really pretty notebook with both blank staffs and regular lines in it for writing music from Mark, money to pay for getting his ears pierced from Renjun who knows his parents will allow it, red camellias and a white NASA beanie that Chenle refuses to take off until bedtime from Jeno, a pair of mittens and a ridiculous Christmas sweater that lights up from Hyuck, a bunch of homemade peppermint bark and peanut brittle from Jaemin because he’s incredibly extra, and a heartfelt letter and some trinkets -- some sparkly rocks and a neko kitty, among other things -- from Jisung. Apparently he found them in the marketplace and they just reminded him of Chenle. Chenle almost starts crying when he reads the letter, but he refuses to let anyone else read it. 

Jisung, last but not least, begins his pile. At this point, there are so many bags and pieces of wrapping paper strewn around that they can barely see the floor. Jisung gets: a new wireless speaker from Jark since Hyuck broke his last one accidentally, a book of doodles and sketches -- some polished with colors, others just sketchy lineart -- from Renjun, chrysanthemums and a big comfy orange sweatshirt with a little picture of a cat on the pocket from Jeno, a couple pairs of really warm fuzzy socks and a pair of mittens that match Chenle’s new ones from Hyuck, a book of the bird paintings with text on them like “the risk I took was calculated but man I’m bad at math” and “I’d sell you to Satan for one corn chip” and “I’m five ounces of whoop-ass” with the title  _ The Mincing Mockingbird: Guide To Troubled Birds _ from Jaemin, and a cute card and a bunch of music in various forms -- CD, record, a couple Spotify playlists and an iTunes gift card -- from Chenle. Flipping through the book from Jaemin, Jisung quickly decides that it’s basically his new favorite thing ever. 

 

Once presents have all been opened, thoroughly examined, and heavily judged, Chenle eagerly calls that they’re moving on to activities. This is, of course, accompanied by a healthy dose of gossip, as with most sleepovers. As soon as all of the wrapping paper and bags are cleaned up from the floor, Renjun stops glaring and allows them to actually move on to the activities Jisung and Chenle planned. 

The first couple activities are a small selection of board games from Chenle’s parents’ large collection. Sorry, Trumpet, and Pit, among others Jisung and Chenle found hiding in the depths of their houses, are all thoroughly exhausted, then the new Clue game gets broken in, and every card game they can think of is played at least twice. Egyptian Rat Slap and Spoons each go on for about an hour before anyone gets bored. Renjun and Chenle are both very glad the parents aren’t home, because they’d have a lot of questions to answer in the morning. 

Most of the food disappears quickly during this time because these are, in fact, teenage boys we’re talking about here. Mark and Hyuck’s carefully crafted creations are, of course, shown the proper respect before being consumed. The frosted Christmas Tree brownies, snowflake-shaped pastries, and rice crispy treats painstakingly molded to look like snowmen and yetis are photographed for posterity -- and for Instagram -- before everyone digs in. 

One of the more entertaining foods was the hot cocoa. Hyuck had the brilliant idea of bringing not only a variety of kinds of cocoa mix and both chocolate and regular milk, but also a bunch of things to put in the cocoa: white and milk and dark chocolate chips, mint chocolate chips, baby candy canes, marshmallows of various shapes and sizes, whipped cream, heavy cream, sprinkles, nutella, peanut butter, mini m&ms, almond and vanilla and orange extract, and for some god awful reason, jawbreakers, among other things. Of course, knowing this group, the peaceful consumption of hot cocoa quickly became a cutthroat competition to see who could put the most stuff in their cocoa and still drink it. They actually took a break from the games to stage a formal competition. Jeno decided to judge because he’s very picky about his hot cocoa and wasn’t sure if any would be left after they finished. Chenle won. No one’s entirely sure  _ what _ he put in there, but it smelled strongly of orange and mint and no one else agreed to drink it. 

Somehow, during this process, Hyuck gets the idea in his head that spraying half a can of whipped cream straight into his mouth is a fantastic idea. It’s probably because Mark bet he couldn’t, but that’s not important. He ends up getting whipped cream all over his face. This may be partially Jaemin’s fault, but that’s also not important. He then tries to kiss Mark, which doesn’t end well. Renjun doesn’t mind but only because he knows he’ll guilt them into helping clean up tomorrow. 

Eventually, though, they get back to the games. No one’s particularly surprised, but Renjun wins more than anyone else. Hyuck calls him a sneaky bastard, but Jaemin just pulls Renjun onto his lap and announces that he’s, and I quote, “ _ my _ sneaky bastard.” Hyuck gives up. 

Once everyone’s tired of the games, the music and gossip officially begin. Well, the music has been going since before everyone arrived, but Jisung switches the playlist from their pump-up dance jams to the more chill stuff. Besides, it’s getting pretty late, so they should start calming down. Well, it’s unlikely they’ll calm down much anytime soon, since soon enough Truth or Dare is proposed, but Mark limits it to Truth or Truth. No one really wants to move since they’ve all gotten comfortable, and he does actually want to get at least some sleep tonight, thank you very much. And by “gotten comfortable,” I mean everyone’s cuddled up with their respective boyfriends, so no one argues with Mark’s limitation. 

There are many stories told that evening. I’m going to highlight a couple of the more interesting ones here. Well, they were all interesting, but these are the ones that involve characters I’ve introduced to you. 

First, we have the story of Mark’s first kiss. Somewhat surprisingly, not even Hyuck has heard this story before. Somewhat less surprisingly, Mark’s first kiss was Xuxi. The seniors, who all know of Xuxi even if they don’t know him personally, know that although he has a reputation as a bit of a playboy, he’s picky about his partners. It’s more surprising to learn that this happened their sophomore year, before Mark left and before Xuxi’s playboy reputation started. 

Apparently, the two of them were just hanging out. 

“We were just chilling and he turns to me and goes ‘hey do you wanna kiss?’ I’m, y’know, confused but he’s cute so I’m not really opposed to the idea. I say ‘bro what?’ because I was a sophomore and ‘no homo’ existed, and he says ‘y’know, neither of us have ever kissed anyone, so it might help to get practice.’ Apparently, for 16-year-old sleep-deprived me, that was flawless logic. So we kissed.”

“What was it like?” asks Jaemin. 

“I dunno, just a kiss? We kissed like twice then decided to just not talk about that again. It wasn’t bad or anything, just kinda weird. So yeah. That’s the story of that.”

Mark tells Hyuck later that Xuxi’s actually the only other person he’s kissed, but he decides that doesn’t need to be shared to the rest of the group right now. 

After a few more rounds, Chenle asks Jaemin who he had his first kiss with. 

“Hyuck,” he replies simply. The room erupts. Since everyone’s demanding more context and Hyuck doesn’t object, he tells the story. 

“Alright, so y’all know we’ve been besties since forever. We had a lot of sleepovers, partially so one set of parents could catch a break and partially because we begged for them incessantly.” Hyuck spends most of this story nodding along and occasionally correcting Jaemin under his breath. “Even when we were kids, we stayed up  _ way _ later than we should’ve, but frequently in, like, middle school and stuff we’d stay up til like 3 or 4 am. It was … it was freshman year, right?” Hyuck nods. 

“Yeah, like, mid-October freshman year or something.” 

“Ok I thought so. So, it’s some random Saturday night -- well, Sunday morning but whatever --” Jaemin waves a hand. “The two of us are doing random dares from this website we found. It was just a dumb ‘Random Dare Generator’ or whatever. Most of them were harmless, like ‘switch all the cereal bags around in the boxes’ and ‘cover the faces of family photos hung around the house with pictures of Barack Obama’ and stuff like that.”

“Oh, god I forgot about that! It took your mom like three weeks to notice all the Barack Obamas and it drove her absolutely nuts! God, we were hilarious as kids.” 

“Hyuck, we’re still kids.” 

“Whatever. Keep going.” 

“Alright, so one of the dares was ‘kiss someone else in the room’ and, y’know, there wasn’t exactly anyone else in the room. Given that it was probably around 3:30 and we were both half-high on caffeine and sleep deprivation, the idea of just  _ not doing it _ didn’t really come up as an option.” Hyuck mutters something under his breath that makes Mark giggle, but Jaemin decides he’s either heard it before or he probably doesn’t want to know what it is and plows on. 

“So we kissed. It wasn’t, like, bad or anything, but we already knew we didn’t like each other like that so we just didn’t ever do it again. Yeah. Kinda anticlimactic, but whatever. Y’all asked for it.” 

The final story of the night was the only other particularly entertaining one: when Chenle asks Renjun how he found out what his parents do for a living. No one else in the room has ever actually thought to ask what Chenle or Renjun’s parents do, so they’re all in for a hell of a surprise. 

“I’m kind of surprised you haven’t asked me about this yet, you nosy gremlin,” says Renjun. Chenle just shrugs. 

“Ok, do you guys want the short version or the actual version?” The answer is unanimously the actual version. 

“You asked for it. Ok, so I was probably like 8 when I started to suspect that Mom and Dad didn’t have the same kind of job as the parents of the kids at school. I learned that most parents don’t disappear for weeks on end with little to no notice, most parents tell their kids about their jobs and take them to company picnics, and most parents don’t come home with bullet wounds occasionally.” Everyone but Chenle gasps, astounded. Renjun grins, clearly enjoying this. 

“So I did some research. I snuck around a little, and eventually figured out that my parents were part of a group called the ‘mafia.’ I, as a fucking 8-year-old, had no idea what the hell that meant, so I asked Mom and Dad about it. They gave a PG version of it, basically saying they’re secret agents. I, as a fucking 8-year-old, thought that was the  _ coolest thing ever _ .” 

“Don’t lie -- you still think that Renjunnie,” Chenle cuts in. Renjun just shrugs. 

“I’m valid and you can fight me. But anyway, I didn’t find out until middle school what ‘the mafia’ actually entailed, but at that point it didn’t bug me. Mom and Dad’s trips just meant spending time with Chenle, which is always neat. Right now, I’m pretty sure they’re deep undercover in, like, Germany or something, so I won’t hear from them til they get back. I’m definitely making sure they meet all of you as soon as possible though. They’ll love you guys.” Chenle nods in agreement. 

“Renjun’s parents are fantastic. I love them!” 

Around midnight, they all start to get drowsy so the game ends and they decide to just put on a movie and chill until they all fall asleep. Everyone gets changed into pajamas, the scarily small amount of leftover snacks are put away, and Chenle decides to put on Nightmare Before Christmas. No one can think of any objections, so Nightmare Before Christmas it is. 

Before anyone can blink, Renjun has claimed the couch for himself and his boyfriends by flopping down along the entire length and practically daring anyone to try. First, he lives there so only Chenle could really argue with him and second, there are three of them so they have strength in numbers. Mark and Hyuck steal the loveseat while Jisung and Chenle are getting changed, but they curl up on a beanbag without complaint. Everyone’s soft and comfy, enjoying the movie and slowly falling asleep as snow falls gently outside. 

It’s a perfect ending to a perfect night and a perfect year. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Thursday everyone! Thank you all for reading this chaotic mess of a story!! I hope y'all enjoyed it!!


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